Android 4.4 KitKat and Nexus 5 News, Rumors and Photos

It has been a while since KitKat was announced as the new iteration of the Android OS, version 4.4, succeeding the hugely popular Jellybean. However, despite the announcement having been made quite some time ago, there is still no concrete release date or any new information coming out since then. So, what’s the deal with KitKat? Well, as it turns out, quite a bit of information has slowly been leaking out, which shows some of the upcoming changes to the Android OS. In tandem with these leaks, more and more information has been revealed about the upcoming Nexus 4 successor, probably called “Nexus 5”, to the point where we now have a pretty good idea of what the device looks like and what hardware it may end up carrying. All that’s missing is a reveal! So instead, let’s take a look at what’s been leaked so far…

Android 4.4 KitKat

Initial rumors and speculation pointed to October 15th as the most likely release date for the new KitKat and Nexus 5 release, but that date has come and gone and there’s still no press announcement from Google at this time. Still, we know quite a bit of what’s coming next! On the KitKat front, there’s apparently a bunch of visual changes and a new look coming to Android. It might not be a radical transition like Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich, but it’s still the first time since then that Google has decided to shake things up, this time apparently with a brand new UI and style! The initial leaks showed off a brand new set of white notification bar icons:

As we all know, currently Android uses the hugely popular Cyan on Black color scheme for almost every facet of the OS, so does this mean that this new White/Grey on Black color scheme will be the default on KitKat? Later leaks seem to confirm this, including this screenshot from Google themselves, off the official keyboard app on Google Play:

Thus, the new color scheme is pretty much confirmed. However, there’s something else. At around the same time these leaks appeared, new images surfaced that showed off a transparent notification bar and button bar instead, while still having the same white icons:

So, what’s going on? We still don’t really know. Are the versions with the black notification bar early builds of KitKat? Is the transparent version just an experiment that will not be present at the final release? Still unknown, but what seems certain is that the Cyan on Black color scheme is gone and that the new icons will be the default. Apart from that, as you can also see on the screen below, there is a new “flat” icon style throughout the OS that replaces the current 3D style. This is consistent with the new style that Google has enforced outside of Android, including the new flat logo for Google Search, GMail, Chrome and so on.

Another thing that is apparently coming with KitKat is a brand new launcher! We have talked about launchers recently on this very same blog, so if you’re unsure of what it is, that link is a great way of becoming familiar with it. The upcoming new launcher however, seems to come from Google itself and is called “Google Experience”, and it looks a little something like this:

As you can see, there is a brand new transparent background replacing the black background on the current launcher, and there will be less icons per screen. You can also see some of the new flat icons on the screenshot above, along with the transparent notification and button bar. It will also allow you to create multiple homescreens and integrate Google Now somehow, even if it’s not clear exactly how it will work yet. Another thing that has eventually leaked out is a new dialer, which although may look alien and foreign, seems to be consistent with the later leaks and UI elements:

Nexus 5

On the Nexus 5 front, we know a whole lot. A service manual leaked and revealed most of the specs, along with the dimensions and other information about the device. At the moment, the specs seem to be the following:

Along with the specs, a lot of photos and details of the device have slowly leaked out. But even better, a 7 minute video showcasing the device and an old build of KitKat was uploaded to YouTube, and you can see it here:

So, not looking too shabby. Still no price point, however a rumor has persisted that the Nexus 5 will launch with 2 different configurations, namely a more expensive version with much better battery life in order to address the complains of the Nexus 4 and provide a better experience. Hopefully this rumor comes to fruition, as a Nexus 5 with a huge battery would be a pretty sweet deal and the best of both worlds. Looking at the specs, a camera with OIS (optical image stabilization) also seems to be a significant addition, and is consistent with Google’s statement of wanting better cameras and imaging on their flagship devices.

And that as far as we currently know about the upcoming news. Still no release date or concrete announcement, but something is expect by the end of this month. It’s weird that the KitKat announcement was made so far in advance, but hopefully we won’t have to wait much longer to find out what Google has been keeping under the hood. What are you looking forward to with KitKat? Let us know in the comment section below!